Treating of seeds with liquid type chemical treatments has been common practice in respect to many agricultural crops, such as corn, small grains including wheat, oats, flax, etc. On the other hand, peanut seeds have traditionally been treated by applying dry dust including the necessary chemicals as fungicides. Dust has been used in treating peanut seeds because the thin outer membrane called the testa is very fragile and must necessarily remain intact and in place, and until recently it has been believed that no liquid type chemical treatments could be used in treating peanuts because it has been believed that the use of liquid type chemical treatments would tend to damage the testa and materially reduce the likelihood of seed germination.
It has recently been determined that peanut seeds may be effectively treated with liquid type chemical treatments wherein the chemical products are in a collidal suspension with a primarily oil base. However, known equipment has not proved satisfactory for treating peanuts.
The testa of many seeds is very rough, with deep fissures. Also, peanut seeds are extremely large and must be thoroughly coated with the chemical treatment, even though the actual quantity of the treating liquid applied is relatively small. Of course, the seeds cannot be roughly handled or jostled excessively.
Prior art seed treaters have not been adequate for treating peanut seeds for various reasons. Typically, prior seed treaters have not been able to apply an adequate amount of the liquid chemical treatment in the manner required. Representative known prior treaters are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,511; 2,935,359; 3,155,542 and 3,912,231.